There's a lot to love about these two...but what we love most has nothing to do with Kylo's mediocre dice or the big three damage sides on young Vader...it has everything to do with their zeros.

And, if you're like me, you roll blanks. LIKE A CHAMP. Like it's your job. If this game had a mechanic that rewarded blank rolls, you would be the one getting the glory.

So why fight it? The design of this deck is such that it's intended to reward your blanks, not fight them. Rather than being a thorn in your side, each blank in this deck should instead be seen as an opportunity. You've got Meditate whose sole purpose in this deck is to turn a blank into either 3 damage from a Vader special or as much as 5 from a Kylo special.

Did you just roll two blanks at once? Time to party! Toss down an Anger to resolve a 3 damage Vader, Luke, Obi, Palp or Poe (and many more!) die as if it were yours AND get that die out of the pool. Then meditate into a special.

Did you actually roll all "good" sides? NONSENSE. How can you go a turn without a blank? Answer: you can't. Manipulate an opponent's die into a blank and turn one of yours with it. Boom, now you're set up for more meditate synergy. Also, time to Feel Your Anger and use that lovely blank on their side to remove more dice.

"But fella, I know how to roll well and don't need stupid gimmicks to get my dice to show good sides".

Thanks for the input, Jack. Then throw down your Sith Holocron, Super-Sayin roll your way into two Mind Probes and force speed-mind probe into ten damage in one action. You can have your cake AND eat it.

And Emperor's Throne Room - Death Star II is here because it's scary. Don't worry, you're literally never going to win an initiative roll. Make peace with it. This is about the blanks. Just embrace the chaos. We want them to take their battlefield so that you can put two shields on Vader and not feel the heat from his first two Specials.

And if they don't...then guess what just happened? You've got another blank you can turn into a special. It's like Easter and Chinese New Year had a baby with the Ghost of Christmas Past, and then threw a party for it (no RSVP required).

First of all - epic write up! Excellent strategic discussion about some of the cards in the deck and great tactical advice for what to do even when you miraculously DO NOT roll blanks. As a fellow "Blankster" I appreciate this list so much! So, why no Power of the Dark Side ? Seems like it'd be tailor made for a strategy like this?

@Darik_grey thanks so much, dude! Yes, I agree 100% that Power of the Dark Side is a total thematic and practical win, I just don't know what to take out. I'm not sure I can put any less mitigation in there and survive! The only potential card I could see dropping is Enrage, but man...losing a resource generator for a two cost support? I'm not sure I can afford it.

With this deck strategy, you could make the argument that Vibroknife could come out, but there have been enough times where a 1 vibro melee and a 1 damage kylo side bypassed shields and took out a heavy hitter that I'm really reluctant to do that. I'll keep it in mind for sure! Anything you see as obvious for a swap?

People who get frustrated with blanks in this deck should consider Trust Your Instincts. It is a reroll that comes with a card; this rewards you if you reroll well by maybe having a follow up play, as well as the opportunities to reroll again or panic dig for answers. Why is Datapad here.
Doubt is a bad card.

@xernon I've considered it, but in the same respect I just don't know what to remove.

@customerserv1ce with respect, Doubt is one of the best removal cards available to Villains. Data pad's place in the deck is clearly spelled out in the writeup. I have considered Trust Your Instincts, but I just don't need it. Could be fun, though.

What are your thoughts about trying to work in Flank? Because of the way I play this deck, I'm often an action or two behind my opponent. I like to be reactive. This generally means I could take advantage of flanking, but I still don't know what I could remove.

One thing I realized tonight: this deck can be almost free to play if it's working the way it should. Turn three I had 6 resources and played a Mind Probe before I ever saw a Sith Holocron.

That might change some things. Tonight I ran Overconfidence instead of Anger to try it out and it was actually extremely consistent. I want Anger in there, though, so I need to find something to cut for Overconfidence.

I could drop Enrage, although it does come in clutch when a 3-for-1 pops up on Vader or Mind Probe.

I might try that. -2 Enrage, +2 Overconfidence and see if I can afford to lose the resource generation.

I also cut the Enrage for Overconfidence and I'm STILL super flush for resources, especially if I get a Datapad out turn one. I'm honestly considering putting Rise Again in. I spent two consecutive turns with 6 or more resources I couldn't use last game

@Ritter So this is not my main deck, I mostly run Han/Snap with around an 80% win/loss ratio depending on matchup.

I have yet to run this deck competitively, but in my casual matches, the win/loss ratio is at least as high, if not higher. A couple things I like about this deck is that it relies very little on resources, doesn't have a lot of high cost cards to get Unkar'd (or Kylo'd), has a very nice set of mitigation cards (and a couple very strong situational mitigation cards like Anger) and is very very fast. If it's firing on all cylinders, you're looking at a clean round 3 win. I average 6+ damage per turn unless the dice are completely against me.

I am still considering putting in Rise Again because I have ALWAYS been able to afford it. Every game I've played with this deck in its current form ends up with a turn of 4+ resources. (I have also stopped running Enrage, replacing it with Overconfidence and have yet to have a source problem)

@Leddon75No Mercy is a GREAT card...that I have never been able to utilize well.

Specifically in this deck, I'm trying for the bulk of my damage to come from specials and not from melee sides. Unless I'm showing actually NUMBERS, No Mercy sits in my hand until I usually only have maybe one or two cards to use with it and it's not worth the two resources at that point.

It was in the first couple versions of this deck, but I ultimately decided I wanted additional mitigation more.

Officially swapped in a Rise Again last night and took out one Deflect. Not sure I love the option but I'm going to try it for a bit :D

This is an interesting build. I tried the blanks package like this one for a while but since I don't have force speed, I found it too slow and could never get cards like Anger to work for me. So I ditched meditate and anger and a manipulate and now I run a version with abandon all hope to play in those key moments to neuter your opponent. Also I have Lightsaber Throw in there for the surprise extra damage.

I tried to play my first tournament with a variation of this deck and got battered, 1-5. However, I was missing some crucial cards, and it was more of a melee/special hybrid. Either way, I was wondering what your opinion on Command Shuttle was. Also, do you not run Force Lightning because of the lack of space, and would it be a good replacement for Force Throw if I only had one? I love the deck though. Thanks a lot!

@supercanuck after many many play tests, I'm finding Anger to just be too situational to actually work the way I want and have chucked it for another go at No Mercy. In a dozen or so games, it made one good play...other than that, it was chuck to roll every time.

For me, the surprise damage is either Lightsaber Throw or No Mercy and right now, no mercy is stronger against the mirror game (or Unkar) to quickly clear your hand.

@Rassilon5 Those are super thematic! But while Force Push is a great card, especially for Palpatine - Galactic Emperor, the special is only so effective and I don't want any more mixed damage than I already have. This build is a bit on the slow side already.

@hp0ll I love the idea of Command Shuttle, but right now (at least until the next expansion) Supports still REALLY slow your game down. I think it would be a better add than Force Lightning, if you only have one Force Throw, though. Try it! You might love it.

Whenever I've played a variant of this deck, typically they win the roll off. Additionally, my opponent is always claiming before me. So I feel that throne room could be more of a help to them. I thought about adding New Orders to get Emperor's Throne Room - Death Star II back in play, but worry that it may not help as much as having more dice manipulation.
Thoughts?